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Friday, September 20, 2013

Fit & Fabulous: The Goals

So I know it’s strange that this
post is coming AFTER the plan, but I did think of my goals while making my plan.
I’m revisiting my goals at the moment so it DOES all make sense…

Why lose weight? Why exercise? Why Diet?

For me it’s about health, appearance, and happiness. I want
to;

prevent pain in the present and future

age well, keeping my independence and good quality of life
for as long as possible

I want to look good naked and feel sexy and attractive to
myself as well as the opposite sex

I want to have good eating and exercise habits because poor
diet and a sedentary lifestyle make me feel sick, achy and moody.

I also have a few
very specific goals such as;

being able to wear a skirt without my thighs rubbing
together (currently I have to wear bicycle shorts underneath)

I want to be proud of showing my legs in public

I want strong-looking upper arms instead of flabby ones

a thinner chin

a fit stomach

smaller hips

no extra rolls on the front or back

Create a sustainable, healthy lifestyle

Reach 143lbs (as long as I’m still a C-cup)

Feel in control, not stressed by food, and able to deal with
stress in ways other than eating

Pain

I’ve already had some
musculoskeletal (MSK) issues that almost brought me to disability, and it’s
really important to me to not have those issues again. I want to live a full,
independent life unrestricted by poor health. I want to write and play piano
and do whatever I want. So far exercise has helped with my MSK pain, especially
stretching and yoga. I also have some IBS (inflammatory bowel syndrome) that
would benefit from a proper diet without chemicals, preservatives, and whatever
it is that is making my intestines mad at me that day. And, of course, all
those miscellaneous aches and pains from working at a computer all day would be
alleviated by some good exercise.

Age

My mother and her mother have a lot
of difficulty just walking, and I feel my mom’s way too young to have that
problem (55). I want to always be able to walk. For my grandmother I’m sure
this is due to her inactivity and poor eating habits. My mother works on her
diet and exercises as much as she can, but she has arthritis in her foot and I
think knee troubles as well. My parents and grandparents are showing me that it’s
hard to get older; my grandfather told me it was the most challenging part of
his life. It’s been difficult watching them age and lose the ability to do
things that they once enjoyed. I want to start getting fit now so that I can
avoid some problems that would happen later like decreased mobility and all the
obesity-related illnesses like diabetes. Also, I’m sure I will always want to
be fit and it’ll be easier to lose weight now than when I have arthritis and
after all those hormonal changes set in.

The book that I’m basing my plan
on, “The cognitive behavioral Workbook for Weight Management: A Step-by-Step
Program” (or, the CBTWM) says that in order to improve your health and have
less risk for obesity-related illnesses, it’s only necessary in most cases to
lose 5-10% of your body weight. For me, my highest weight was 182.6lbs so in
order to have health benefits I need to lose 9-18lbs or be at 173.47-164.34lbs.
I’m already in this range! At my last weigh-in I was 169.6!

Body Satisfaction

Losing weight would help me achieve
some of my appearance goals: smaller hips, thighs, stomach, chin, and less
extra fat front and back. But having real body satisfaction has more to do with
how you feel about yourself than how you actually look. The CBTWM says that
weight loss helps to improve body satisfaction if you lose 5-10% of your body
weight, so I’m in this range already (between 173.47 and 155.21lbs)! And I DO
feel more satisfied with my body although I feel there is still room for
improvement. The CBTWM is careful to point out that after this amount of
weight-loss, further weight-loss usually does not mean any further increase in
body satisfaction. But with cognitive behavioral therapy you can achieve the
same effect of better body image as with a 5-15% weight-loss. So, as well as
losing weight I’m planning on doing the body image exercises included in the
CBTWM.

Binge Eating

Do I need any more reasons to lose
weight? No, but there is one more issue for me to deal with: binge eating.
Binge eating IS an eating disorder and I definitely suffer from it. I get
cravings so bad I feel totally out of control. I eat until I feel sick and then
eat some more. I use food to soothe emotional feelings like anger, sadness, and
stress. I even overeat when I’m happy sometimes. I eat to deal with emotion. It
sometimes helps in the short-term but has negative long-term effects like
gaining weight and feeling sick, and feeling bad about being so out of control.
In the stress of the moment it is incredibly difficult to say no and I actually
need more reasons to help me stay away.